An Unexpected Meeting
by Maegfen
Summary: Kane is attempting to complete some important work when he finds himself distracted by a precocious little girl... (Set pre-series)


**Author's note:** This little one shot was inspired by a prompt on tumblr from user dreamingalonso, who wanted a story about Kane meeting a baby Clarke as she's running around the Ark. I hope this covers it! It's a bit silly but I had fun writing it!

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There were security schedules to be drafted and a new timetable to be handled for the Mess Hall, so on that particular morning Marcus Kane did not _particularly_ want to be disturbed. Which meant, of course, that he was interrupted at every available opportunity. In a bid to escape Jaha's latest set of questions (the senior Councillor had already stopped by Kane's quarters three times in the last four hours) he decided to take a quick walk around the Ark, hoping to find somewhere quiet to complete his steadily growing pile of work.

He turned into the corridor leading to Engineering and was quickly hit in the stomach by a small, rapidly moving, bundle of _something_.

The something, he realized as he looked down, was a girl; blonde haired, blue eyed and probably about 6 years old. Of course, he knew immediately who the child was.

"Are you okay?" He asked, squatting down to the child's eye level as she sat on the cold floor of the corridor.

"Yes, I'm 'kay thank you," she replied politely, smiling brightly at him.

"Good. Come on, let's get you back up," he commented as he reached down and plucked the girl up under her arms, holding her slightly off the ground before putting her back on the floor. He made sure she was steady on her feet before he let her go.

"Thank you," she said again.

"You're welcome."

There was a slight pause as the girl looked up at him, a questioning look on her face. Kane got the feeling that she was studying him, as if trying to assess whether he was worthy of any more of her time. After a few seconds of scrutiny, it appeared that he passed her attention test.

"My name's Clarke. I'm 6," she said proudly, pointing to herself.

"Yes, I'm aware of who you are," Kane replied, smiling slightly at her. Even if he hadn't known the child, she was the spitting image of her parents.

"Who're you?" Clearly, Kane thought, she got her blunt nature from her mother.

"I'm Commander Kane. I work with your mother."

The girl looked confused. She took her time thinking over his statement before she answered.

"But my Mom's a Doctor not a Commander," she replied matter of factly.

"This is true. We have regular meetings with the Council that your mother attends. I work with her there."

"Oh." Clarke didn't seem to want to press for extra details, apparently satisfied with his answer.

"Where _is_ your mother?"

"Somewhere in eng'neering with Daddy. They were talking and it was boring so I decided to have a race."

"I see," Kane replied, his eyebrow raised at the little girl.

"I won," Clarke said simply, staring up at Kane.

"Well done you," he replied, before a shout from further down the corridor caught his attention.

"Clarke? Honey, where are you?"

Abby Griffin suddenly appeared round the corner, looking somewhat harried. She spotted Clarke and Kane seemingly in mid-conversation and Kane smiled at her when she approached.

"Abby," he said by way of greeting.

"Kane," she replied, looking incredibly relieved that her daughter was safe. "I see you found Clarke. Thank you."

"She found me actually," he admitted looking down at Clarke again. The little girl beamed up at him.

"Mom," Clarke said, turning towards her mother, "I was racing and Commander Kane got in the way so I stopped but I still won." Clarke seemed incredibly excited about her new 'friend' and her racing adventure. She motioned for her Mom to bend down to her level so she could whisper in her ear. Kane could still hear every enthusiastic word. "I was super fast, like the wind."

"That's great sweetie," Abby said, reaching down and running her fingers through her daughter's hair soothingly. She looked at Kane as she stood back up.

"I hope she wasn't a bother."

"Not at all," he said sincerely. "It's always a pleasure to meet such a charming and lovely young lady. Even if they do run at full steam into me."

Clarke grinned at him again and giggled, before she turned and hid behind her mother's legs. Kane looked confused at Clarke's sudden shyness. Had he said something wrong? Abby laughed at the expression on his face.

"Careful Kane," she admonished, barely holding back another chuckle. "She's at that age where you compliment her once and she'll have a crush on you forever. She's been following Thelonious around all week because he called her pretty at the school play last month."

"Ah," Kane muttered, under his breath, as he nodded in understanding. There was a slightly awkward pause before Abby motioned behind her.

"I better get back. Jake's working on some new air filters for Sick Bay that he needs my input for." She smiled at him again before reaching down to take Clarke's hand. "Come on honey, let's go find your Dad. I'm sure he's got something you can play with in his office."

The promise of playthings caused Clarke to squeal quietly with excitement and Kane couldn't hold back a smile.

"Say bye to Commander Kane, Clarke," Abby said, looking down at her daughter.

"Bye Commander Kane," Clarke said quietly, smiling shyly up at him again.

"Goodbye Clarke; have a good day," he replied, and laughed at her giggle. He looked at Abby. "Goodbye Abby. I'll see you at the next meeting I presume?"

Abby nodded.

"I'll be there. Have a good afternoon Kane."

He nodded his acknowledgment and watched as mother and daughter head back down the corridor, Clarke occasionally looking back and waving. He raised a hand in reply and turned around, deciding that he would probably be better off back in his quarters. He wandered back through the Ark wondering to himself just how he'd managed to become the crush of a young, charming 6 year old girl in the space of 10 minutes. He had a feeling that one was going to be trouble when she got older; he'd have to keep an eye on Clarke Griffin in the future. He chuckled and smiled to himself as he made his way back to his quarters, determined to get on with his work; he'd been distracted enough for the day…


End file.
